The Girl Who Lives
by Azreal1313
Summary: Anastasia Potter, The Girl Who Lives, so named because the maelstrom of a prophecy, an ancient protection that cost her mother's life, and being a Horcrux have left her nearly immortal. For Ana, nearly isn't good enough. She is willing to do anything to preserve herself, and to protect those she loves. Dark!Potter Powerful!Potter Fem!Harry
1. Chapter 1

Anastasia Potter was basically immortal. She knew that. She could count on one hand the things that could actually put her down for good. Fiendfyre, Dementor's and some very dark very old rituals that could annihilate a soul.

Not even Albus Dumbledore was quite sure how she had ended up that way, however he had proposed several theories. Apparently there was in existence a prophecy regarding her and Voldemort, that neither could be slain, except at the hands of the other. Fate, it would appear enforced its prophecies quite literally.

Secondly, when the dark lord had attempted to kill her as a child, her mother had used a very old, very costly ritual, her sacrifice had created a second layer of protection, one fused into Anastasia's very soul. Voldemort couldn't harm her, couldn't even bear to touch her, any curse, any wound he attempted to inflict upon her would rebound tenfold upon him.

Finally, when Voldemort had cast his final killing curse, he had been attempting to use a very dark, very ancient ritual to secure his own immortality, it involved ripping a part of his soul off and storing it in some item. As the curse rebounded, the stray soul piece had attached itself to the nearest living soul. Which happened to be little Anastasia. Her mother's protection had kicked in, and annihilated the malicious aspect of the soul piece, but allowing the burst in power and durability that the ritual provided.

All in all, it made Anastasia very very hard to kill, which somehow had made her very paranoid about the few ways she could be killed.

Which was why back in the present, the Dementor staring her in the face was terrifying her.

This was the Hogwarts express, what in Merlin's name was a Dementor doing here? They were supposed to guard Azkaban, not attack students.

Perhaps, perhaps they were here for her. She'd heard them referred to as the shadows of death before. Maybe they were finally here to claim her, they must be angry for her escaping death's grasp so many time.

The glass of the compartment's door frosted over, and freezing cold began to creep through the air, freezing the breath of those inside.

"Ana? What's out there?" Hermione's voice was oddly strained and distant, as if heard through water.

"Dementor." Ana spun away from the door as the feeling of soul crushing sadness began to get stronger. The door would only hold that foul thing for so long. Already she could see the frozen wood beginning to buckle and crack as the air became colder.

She moved back to her friends, her mind churning violently racing for some way, any way out. For a second she contemplated blasting out the window and jumping. She'd survive the fall. But...she couldn't abandon her friends. A hint of an idea sparked. "Wake Prof-"

Then the world exploded.

Wood and glass, covered in ice and rot flew into the compartment with the force of a cannon, as death itself drifted into the small room.

A scream echoed. Ana couldn't tell where from. It might have been her screaming. It tore at here eardrums like a burning knife.

A high cold voice spoke, the sound coming from every direction, and none all at once. "Avarda Kedarva!"

A softer feminine voice, pleading, crying, begging. "Not Ana! Not my Ana! Please! Kill me instead!"

Again the scream. A flash of green light.

Then the voices again.

Anastasia wasn't sure how long it went on, or how many times the scene repeated. It seemed to go on for an unknowable eternity.

Then there was a flash of silver light, and a strong soothing voice, and the cold retreated.

"Ana!" Hermione's voice cut through the darkness. Hands shook her shoulders. "Ana! Wake up! Please wake up!" Tears, yet unshed were audible in Hermione's voice.

"...hey..." Anastasia opened her eyes. Her voice crackled, and her throat was raw and strained. She pushed herself off the ground to a sitting position slowly. Blood pooled from where her nails has sliced into her palm. "Who...who screamed?"

Hermione threw her arms around Anastasia, and let out a few short half-laugh, half-sobs. "You and Luna screamed. The two of you and Neville got hit hardest by that, that thing."

She pulled back

"Thankfully professor Lupin was here, otherwise...I thought it had kissed you. You went so limp."

Anastasia stood up shakily and limped over to the disheveled Defense professor. "Thank you. I heard you saved my life."

A tired smile appeared on the man's tired face. "I think Lily and James would have returned from the dead to kill me if I let their only child be kissed by a Dementor." He broke off a chunk from a heavy slab of dark chocolate. "Here, eat this. It will help with the after effects."

"You knew my parents?" She nibbled lightly on the chocolate. Thankfully, her throat had already healed. Benefit of having a piece of Voldie's soul. Lupin was right, the chocolate seemed to soothe her battered nerves.

He laughed. "Yes, James, myself and...two other boys. We were best friends from first year. I met your mother later. The world is a worse place for their absence." His gaze swung around the cabin. "If everything is alright here, I have to go speak with the conductor. Stay put, and stay safe."

He moved out off the repaired door with a small nod to Ana.

"So, does this count towards my quota of things try to kill me at Hogwarts for this year?"

There was a spattering of nervous laughter. Everyone looked a little paler than normal. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny didn't look too bad, Ginny likely because she had been the farthest from the door, Neville and Luna looked like hell though, and Anastasia was sure she looked at least as bad if not worse.

"Don't think so Ana, see we aren't actually at Hogwarts. This was just a bonus." Neville gave her a weak smile that failed to reach his eyes.

"Damn. It was worth a try." She made an act of looking pensive. "So first year I fought Voldemort, second year Voldemort plus Basilisk, third year- I'm not quite sure how the situation can escalate from that really."

"Well, I'm assuming Dementor's, Sirius Black, and You-Know-Who, are gonna team up and try to kill you while riding an undead basilisk. It's only logical." Neville laughed.

"Please no." Hermione groaned. "Is it too much to ask for a normal year?"

Anastasia almost choked on the drink of water she'd just taken. "Hah! Normal! Around me? Ha ha! You must be kidding."

"Seriously Mione, Ana is a chaos magnet. Bad stuff is just attracted to her." Ron chortled.

"It's the wrackspurts." Luna said factually.

"Thank you Luna. What she said." Ana grinned at Hermione's face palm.

"Why am I friends with you?"

"Because you are masochistic, and I'm just that charismatic." Ana slid her arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Also I'm very, very attractive."

A textbook was slammed into her face at high speed.

There was a moment of silence before the compartment erupted into laughter.

"Okay. Okay. I admit I deserved that." Ana glared at her friends. "And it wasn't that funny." She shook her head and rubbed her jaw. If she wasn't as durable as she was, that would have left one hell of a mark.

"Just because I'm immortal doesn't mean you should use me as a punching bag."

"Aww, but it's your best use!" Hermione giggled. "I mean much as you protest, we certainly don't keep you around for your looks."

"That's it!" Ana leapt out of her seat and tackled Hermione to the ground tickling the bushy haired girl.

"Get a room!" Ron said laughing. He hopped up onto the seat to avoid the fight below.

Ana had managed to pin Hermione beneath her. While the bushy haired witch was older than her, and has a few inches hight on her, Ana's instincts were honed for combat, and her body was toned and strong. She waggled her eyebrows "maybe I will Ronald."

"Merlin Ana, you're sounding like a teenage Gilderoy!" Ron said. He then leapt out of the way to dodge the stinging hex thrown at him.

The train lurched once, then started to move again. Ana was glad for the distraction. The rough housing had been a good way to temporarily take their minds off the Dementor, but it wouldn't have lasted much longer.

"Finally! At this rate I didn't think we were actually going to be at Hogwarts this side of midnight! I want food damnit!"

"Have you ever tried thinking with anything other than your stomach Ron." Hermione groaned.

Ana laughed at her poor friend. Ron did spend aproximently all of his time thinking about food, there was no denying that. The sound of footsteps caused her attention to snap into focus. Someone was coming towards their compartment, which seeing as they were at the very back of the train, and not near a lavatory, meant it was rare to have someone approach. She listened to the muffled cadence of the footfalls. They were both too rapid and too soft to either be one person walking or running. It was at least three, and not heavy enough to be those of professor Lupin. Her mind quickly ran through lists of candidates until she noticed the soft click at the end of each third step.

"Malfoy." She hissed through clenched teeth. A light flick of her wrist brought her wand to her hand, thirteen inches of Yew, with the tail feather of Fawlks this Phoenix running through it. The brother wand in almost every way to that of Lord Voldemort. It thrummed lightly with power as she prepared a silent shield charm, finishing all but the last wand motion, and holding the spell in her mind. With her other hand she flicked her fingers through a series of mid-air runes, drawing from the knowledge and power that Voldemort had burned into her mind as a child. Red sparks began to ark between her fingers and dance lightly across her skin as she readied her trademark wandless Magic.

The stupefy running through her hand would stay close to her skin, and stay active, requiring very little power drain, and allowing a powerful form of wandless Magic, the only drawback being that the had to get into touch range of her opponent.

As expected the compartment door opened to reveal Draco Malfoy. Anastasia had to admit, the summer had done him well. He held himself with slightly more confidence, and had filled out a little. If only he hadn't been such a prick, he could have been useful, what with his political power and his wealth. Sadly he was simply an annoyance.

"Hello Malfoy." Ana forced her voice higher than normal, and brought as much ice into her tone as possible, letting a slight amount of hissing from her parselmouth nature slip in. "I thought you sat at the front of the train. Wrong end. Were you confunded? Or are you just stupid?"

The blond rolled his eyes. "Ha. Ha. Potter. Very funny. I came because I heard saw a Dementor come this way, and Parkinson said she heard you scream. Bet you passed out didn't you Potter!"

Anastasia moved deliberately, forcing her anger down. She stood and moved closer to Malfoy. "I did actually. I bet the Dementor barely bothered you."

Malfoy looked stunned. "Of course it didn't, unlike you Potter I-" he puffed out his chest. Had his foe finally realized the innate superiority of Malfoys?

"Unlike me, you don't have any bad memories you pampered brat."

"What!" Malfoy said "I-"

"I saw my parents die. I saw Voldemort come for me, and then I saw him die. What did you see? Your father refusing to buy you a pony? You breaking a nail? You are pathetic Malfoy, thinking you can come and brag to me about your life of leisure and ease." Ana grabbed his tie with her wand hand, in doing so triggering a shield spell to isolate Draco from his cronies. "Perhaps I should give you a memory for the Dementor's to show you."

She raised her hand crackling with sparks. "You know, I've been studying a lot of very interesting old spells, and I've learned to be very creative. What do you think would happen if I summoned the back of your rib cage to my hand right now? I could heal you. Then I could do it again. How many times do you think it would take for you to pass out? How long till I broke your pathetic mind?"

There was a choking sound behind her. From Neville. She wondered why.

"I've grown impatient with your idiocy. If you stay away from me and mine, the Dementor's will offer you nothing to fear. If not?" She shrugged. "I can assure you that next time you see one of those things, you'll scream until your throat bleeds."

A hand clamped down on her shoulder. "Ana! Let him go!" Hermione's voice wavered. Ana realized that it was because of fear. Fear of her.

Ana dropped Malfoy and pushed him back into his cronies before slamming the door. Draco had gone paler than she had thought possible.

"Ana! What the hell was that for! This isn't like you." Hermione's eyes were pleading.

Slapping an imaginary mask on, Ana shifted gears. "Don't worry Hermione, I was just bluffing. I wouldn't actually do any of that. It was just to scare him." She then made her eyes moisten. "And the Dementor shook me up. I just couldn't deal with him right now."

The fear in Hermione's eyes was replaced with concern. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have doubted you. He was being an ass bringing that up."

Ana almost felt guilty for manipulating her oldest, and best friend like that. Almost. She'd noticed that she'd become more skilled at manipulation since the end of last year. Small surprise since she'd spent her summer conversing with Tom. Her hand absentmindedly patted the inner pocket of her robe where the diary of Tom Riddle was safely stored. She began to think of the end of last year.

Ginny had been taken down into the chamber of secrets, Lockhart had managed to get himself and Ron trapped in a cave in, and Anastasia had been forced to proceed alone. She'd found Ginny cold and still, the phantasm of Tom Riddle, aka young Voldemort standing over her.

Tom had ranted about how he was going to suck the life out of Ginny and make himself reborn.

That had actually made her laugh. She'd asked him if he really thought that if he killed Ginny he'd ever make it out of the castle. Standing between him and freedom, was an unkillable girl prophesied to be able to kill Voldemort, the entire Hogwarts staff, and a mere floo trip away, the entire Auror corps.

It hadn't taken much after that to convince him to come quietly, and help her fake evidence of a confrontation.

She'd pocketed the diary, and emerged with artfully torn robes, carrying a rescued Ginny.

The Weasley family, the Staff of Hogwarts, the entire student body even praised her for her heroism, and she had managed to acquire a powerful resource. Tom was very knowledgeable about the darker aspects of magic, and their uses, and was just a potent font of knowledge in general. That, and his main weapon, possession was nullified by her mother's protection.

She had complicated giving it to Dudley for his birthday. Trading Tom or Dudley would be in her mind, very profitable. Maybe next year. For now, she needed to ensure his loyalty.

Snapping back to the present, Ana leaned back in her seat and observed her friend's and allies. This was going to be an interesting year for sure.

A/N: This is basically just a result of me wanting to play with a Harry Potter that is much much more aggressive, and much more dark. Then I decided I wanted to play with immortality, and the fear of death.

Please review, and let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The sorting feast had moved predictably, confirming that Remus J. Lupin was in fact the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, something that Anastasia was incredibly excited about. The school had been saddled with a stuttering dark-lord, and an incompetent narcissistic fop for teachers in her favorite subject. It had been no small wonder that she had began to self study.

When it came down to academics, Anastasia wasn't a poor student for lack of trying, she practiced her spell work endlessly, and spent a fair amount of time in the library studying. She simply had some areas where she excelled, and some where she failed horribly. DaDA and Transfiguration were her best subjects, with charms and potions falling in third and forth slots. Herbology, Astrology, and History however, she was worse than hopeless at, mainly because she couldn't bring herself to bring a damn.

There was a war coming. It was brewing on the horizon, Lucius, Voldemort, that Sirus Black, all had pieces in motion, cards in play. Dumbledore had confessed to her, in the hospital after her disastrous run-in with Quirrel at the end of her first year, that while he could help, it was ultimately going to be her duty to end this war. Dumbledore had fought his war already, versus Gellert. Not it was her turn.

Anastasia now sat, looking at her timetable as her friends chatted around her. Defense was first today, with Mr. Lupin.

"Bloody hell Hermione! What's wrong with your schedule?" Ana turned to see Ron clutching Hermione's schedule slack jawed.

"There's nothing wrong with it!" Hermione made a grab for her schedule, her face flushed with embarrassment her eyes not able to meet Ron's.

She was hiding something Ana decided.

"Your taking every single elective! I don't even know why you'd need muggle studies? You are muggle born, seems silly to me. Divination too, and even I know that's a useless class. Half of your classes overlap, there's no way you can make this work without being in more than one place at once." Ron was brandishing the schedule now. "There just aren't enough hours in the day, Mione!"

"I have it under control." Hermione hissed. Again going for her schedule. She managed to free it from Ron's grasp this time. In doing so a slim golden chain caught the sunlight from where it rested on her neck.

Ana frowned. "Hermione, I didn't think you usually wore jewelry?"

"It's a time turner." Luna's dreamy voice cut in. The group of friends turned in shock to where the blonde girl was spreading marmalade on toast.

"It's-! Wha-! You...how! What are you even doing here Luna?" Hermione spluttered.

"This house seems like more fun than Ravenclaw. So I'm relocating." Luna smiled cheerily.

"You can't just do that!"

"And?" Luna grinned and grabbed her slice of toast. Well I'm off to Defense.

Hermione was left staring at her in shock. "But the Ravenclaws have charms first!"

"It's Luna, you kinda have to just accept that the insane and slash or impossible happens around her. Her weirdness bends reality." Neville spoke candidly.

"I guess we should get to class as well then?" Ron offered, turning away from the breakfast table with a look of sadness.

The four, Neville, Hermione, Ron, and Ana hurried of to find their defense classroom, while Ginny stalked away, muttering about 'stupid third years' and something about her age. Ana nimbly hopped over a vanishing step, and then flung an overpowered levitation charm at Neville to keep him from falling into it.

"Thanks." He said breathlessly. The stairs had never been that kind to Neville's larger frame.

"No prob." Ana said absently. Her mind was running through the various defensive spells she had learned over the summer. She was itching to pull Tom's diary out, but even with her disguising it, she didn't want to risk being seen with it. Various color sparks flickered over her hands as she preformed the wand motions with her fingers, trying to remember which spells ending motions were easily turned into which starting motion.

Now that they finally had a competent professor, she wanted to make an impression.

The classroom door was locked when they arrived, with a small crowd of Gryffindor's and Slytherins milling about. Thankfully Luna was not among them, so the Ravenclaw second year had apparently been joking about attending.

Malfoy and his band of cronies were glaring at the Gryffindor's, until Ana's arrival. Ana swore that she saw Draco pale a little when he met her eyes. Nott made a move to walk over, a sneer on his face till Draco pulled him back and whispered furiously.

"Wonder what's up with them?" Ron whispered. "Malfoy looks like he's seen a ghost or something.

"Ah...It seems that I am late for my own class.." The soft voice of professor Lupin stopped all whispering. "I apologize. My lesson plans were forced to change rather suddenly, due to a quite fortunate happenstance. Due to that, our first lesson won't be held here, but rather a disused room a few doors down." He pointed out the aforementioned room, and the class filled in obediently. At the back of the room, amid a tangle of broken desks, and chairs, sat a heavy wooden wardrobe which was rattling ominously.

Ana's wand was in her hand in a second and her eyes were darting between the wardrobe and Lupin.

First rule of Hogwarts, never trust the Defense professor.

Beside her she could see that Hermione, and Neville had both drawn their wands, Ron however hadn't caught on.

As Professor Lupin stepped into the room, he shut and locked it behind himself. He noticed the tension obvious in the air. "No worries, the creature in that wardrobe is only dangerous if we let it be." He moved to stand next to the rattling container. "Can anyone tell me what a boggart is? "

Hermione raised her hand.

"Yes Miss Granger?"

"A boggart, is an insubstantial dark creature that is attracted to wizarding dwellings and likes dark places. It's a shapeshifter, and takes the form of our worst fears." Hermione answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Correct! Five points to Gryffindor!" Lupin paced back and forth before the class. "Now, the Boggart has some difficulty displaying abstract fears, for example, how does it show the fear of the unknown?" He turned back to the class. "We also have one, tremendous advantage today, than one doesn't normally have when encountering a Boggart. Can anyone tell me what that is?"

Ana spoke, forgetting to raise her hand. "There is so many of us, it will be unsure of what form to take."

Lupin nodded a smile. "Five more points to Gryffindor. Now, the countercharm to a Boggart is Riddikulus! If I'm not mistaken it's the first bit of mind magic you have been taught. There is no wandmotion, and the pronunciation is not terribly important, what is important is that you have some way to make your fear, humorous, some way to warp it to make it no longer scary. The charm will use this image as a charm, forcing the Boggart to change, protecting your mind from it's intrusion. Laughter wounds the Boggart, as it feeds off fear." He gestured to the closet, "I want all of you to practice your Riddikulus before I let this thing out."

After a few minutes Professor Lupin was satisfied with their efforts.

"Mr. Longbottom, why don't you go first, followed by Mr. Malfoy."

Neville nodded nervously before walking up to the Cupboard. Professor Lupin opened it, and an angry Professor Snape stepped out. Neville shouted out "Riddikulus!" And the black robes of the Professor turned to a old turquoise dress, and a witches hat topped with a dead vulture. The class roared in laughter.

Draco stepped up next, and Ana watched in horror as Professor Snape's face melted into her own. Her fingers crackled with black fire, and her wand glowed with a bright green that Ana recognized as belonging to the killing curse. A Dementor's cloak was draped over her shoulders, floating in an invisible wind.

"Rid-Ridikuluss!" Draco stammered.

"Avarda-!" Boggart Anastasia cried, her wand raised.

Draco dodged to the side leaving Ron standing in front of a very large Acromantula.

"Oh not a-bloody-gain. Riddikulus!" The spider's feet turned into roller skates and it flopped and skid around.

The rest of the class progressed mostly without incident, though she had to deal with Draco's panicked looks all class, and with the half bemused, half concerned gaze of Professor Lupin.

Then it was her turn. Hermione stepped aside after banishing her Boggart. For a long time, or at least what felt like it, there was nothing. A shadowy cloud just hung in the air, waiting. Then like lightning it began to flicker through shapes. Her parents cold dead bodies, being eaten by worms. The Dursleys, gutted, and hung, their home burning behind them. Her friends displayed one by one, impaled, burning to death, bleeding out from a cutting curse. Dumbledore hit with a flash of green light, Hogwarts twisted and broken.

Then the shadows seemed to solidify, and all of the corpses she'd seen, alongside those on nearly everyone she'd ever so much as seen appeared, stacked cruelly one atop another, forming two thrones of corpses. One was empty. The other held Lord Voldemort. He laughed Cruelly.

"You did this. Well done. Well done indeed. Now take your place." He gestured to the throne beside himself."

Rage bubbled up from inside Anastasia, and with it, magic. An incantation leapt to mind, one for a rather powerful, somewhat dark spell that could destroy incorporeal creatures.

"ignis consumet spiritus!" She spat, throwing her hands forward. Dark violet flames leapt from her fingertips and tore through the image, turning the Boggart to ash. "I am nothing like you! Nothing!" The dark flames turned into normal fire and swept through the wardrobe, reducing it to ash as well. Then the fury began to ebb away, and she could feel the fear, and hatred rolling over her from behind. She turned slowly. Concern and fear was clear on the faces of those closest to her, while the rest of Gryffindor simply seemed terrified of her, and the Slytherins faces held a mix of abject terror and pure loathing. The same emotions that had graced the faces of the entire school last year, when everyone had though she was the heir of Slytherin.

"Not again." She whispered before turning on her heel and fleeing. The door unlocked itself for her.

She couldn't do this. Not again. She just couldn't stand the looks of hate, of fear. She'd dealt with it for a year, and that had been bad enough. She couldn't make it through another.

She just needed to escape, and to think. Without thinking, her legs carried her to one of the castle's many balconies. One smooth motion flung herself off the edge. Landing would hurt, but it would take a lot more to permanently damage her.

When she hit the ground four floors below, she felt half of the bones in her leg shatter, then reform. The quick pulse of agony made her grit her teeth, but it eased quickly. She jogged to the quidditch pitch and climbed up to one of the towers.

Since there was no match today, the colorful banners were missing, exposing the cold bare bones of the towers. The whole pitch was moody, and empty. She didn't care.

The Boggart had un-nerved her. She knew she had some of Riddle's soul inside her. Her mother's protection had absorbed and integrated it into her. Dumbledore had told her that he was sure that none of its personality could have survived, but was he wrong? She'd spent the summer writing back and forth in the diary, and the thing that had scared her most was how similar they were. Was it that he had been a good person led down a path of evil by circumstance and his surroundings? Or was she as evil as him and doomed to follow the same mistakes. She didn't know which was worse. If it was the first...then she could still go has just as easy, moreover, anyone given the right circumstance could be the next Dark Lord. She'd wanted to believe it was so clear cut, as Hagrid said. Gryffindor's good, Slytherins, bad, but it wasn't. The world wasn't made of black and white. It was painted with shades of grey, and she wasn't so sure what to do with Grey.

"I thought I'd find you here." The voice of Albus Dumbledore made her jump. "Boggarts, much like Dementors are a creature that preys harder on those of us who have lived more." He sat down beside the crying girl, and gently placed a wrinkled hand on her shoulder. "You have no idea how many times I wish my Boggart was something as simple as a spider, or a snake." He sighed. "It isn't. My Boggart is me. I fear that someday, in the process of fighting monsters, I will become one. Mine wears a face that looks like Gellert." He looked down at Anastasia's tear streaked face. "I wish I could tell you that it gets better. However, that would be a lie. The pile of bodies simply grows higher, and you see more and more of yourself in your enemy. What matters, is that you do fear it. You fear becoming the monster, and you care about those around you. The day you stop fearing the monster, is the day you become one."

"They hate me again don't they?" Anastasia's voice felt very very small next to the headmaster.

He sighed, and his shoulders hunched a little. "I'm afraid they are rather scared of you. They don't understand, and what people don't understand, they fear, and what they fear, they lash out at. Your friends, those who truly care fore you though, they are just worried for you." He smiled kindly, a small hint of his usual twinkle returning to his eyes. "I think I shall excuse you from classes today."

"Why does it have to be like this?" Anastasia let herself collapse against the wood behind her.

"Because you and I are Heroes. We are what stands between the dark and the light. We are what shields the many from the pain, and cruelty of evil." The old professor shook his head slowly. "We are not set against our Dark Lords, in spite of our similarities to them, in spite of our inner darkness, but because of it. We walk the shadowed, and lonely path so that others don't have to. We do what we must."

Ana nodded slowly. A sinking feeling filled her stomach. "And we fear becoming monsters-"

"Because some day, we may. We walk the knife's edge between good and evil, light and dark. Sometimes, the dark can't be defeated without using it against it. Sometimes, you have to become the monster to fight a greater one."

"And if that happens?" Ana's voice sounded distant.

"Then you begin the war with the monster inside yourself and climb back out. It will not be easy. We may never succeed, but we must try." Albus smiled down on her one last time. "Have a good day, Anastasia. Remember, your friends have not abandoned you, and my door is always open."

As the headmaster walked away, Ana remembered a conversation held years ago in a disused classroom, about a mirror.

She began to wonder how many bodies Albus had been forced to add to his hill, with his own hands. How much blood stained his hands. She looked down at her own hands. How much would stain hers?

A/N: thank you so much for the great response to chapter 1! Please review and tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Anastasia sat in the 3rd year Gryffindor girl's dormitory on her bed and waited. A house elf had brought her dinner there, away from the other students at Dumbledore's bequest. It was best to let the fear mongering, and the rumors die down a bit before she re-appeared.

Appearing as another student's Boggart, and then having a murdeous Voldie-gart offer her a seat on a throne of corpses before she annihilated it with a borderline dark spell, and ran out of the room sure wasn't going to do anything for her popularity.

Half of the school was still terrified of her from last year, when they thought she was the heir of Slytherin, and was setting the basilisk on her enemies. While she technically was the heir of Slytherin, she hadn't know that and hadn't had access to her chamber and her basilisk till the very end of the year.

Truly, she didn't even mind the fear. In fact she relished in it a bit. When the annoying masses were scared of her they left her alone. It was better than the hero worship that some of the younger students held for her. Damn that stupid 'Girl-Who-Lived Adventure Series' straight to hell. What annoyed her was the abject hatred. The constant sneering and heckling, the insults behind her back, and the mocking. It reminded her too much of the Dursleys, and of 'Potter Hunting.'

She knew that it wore on her friends as much, if not more than it did her. To befriend Anastasia Potter was to be anathema, a social pariah. While she could endure the hatred of the masses, the fear of the stupid and the weak, she vehemently hated to see her friends hurting.

The door opened with a slow creak, a warning sign created by a incredibly minor alarm ward Hermione had drawn. Anastasia's wand flew from her bedside table to her hand, before the appearance of bushy brown hair made her drop her guard.

"Ana?" Hermione's voice was laced with concern. "Ana? Are you okay? We didn't see you at any of your classes, everyone has been worried about you."

"Dumbledore excused me from my classes today." Ana mumbled. She was having difficulty meeting Hermione's eyes without seeing the image of the muggleborn witch bleeding out her throat ripped open by a dark curse.

Hermione moved to sit next to Ana, the old boxspring creaking in protest at the unexpected mass. "Ana, about your Boggart you don't have to worry. You are nothing like him!"

Ana laughed though there was no mirth in the noise. "My Boggart wasn't me being scared of being like him. It was my fear of realizing that I am exactly like him."

"You aren't like him! You would never hurt me! Nor Ron, or Neville, or Ginny or Luna! You care about people, unlike that monster."

"How many people would I kill to protect you though? How far would I go? Dumbledore and I talked. Tom Riddle, and Anastasia Potter are two sides of the same coin Half-Bloods, raised as orphans away from magic. We both hate our childhood homes, and those who raised us. We both fear death, and would do anything to stop it. I want power as badly as he does. The darker aspects of magic call to me. I have the same bloodlust he does. The only difference between us is that he would do anything to save himself, and only himself, whereas I would do anything to save a small handful of souls." Anastasia looked down at her hands, unblemished and free of scars even though they had been burned to the bone when she made her first kill, professor Quirrell.

"That's different! You can love, you understand compassion and friendship! He never could do that!" Hermione grabbed her hand. "Just because you had similar childhoods doesn't make you the same.

"I know that. However, I am his equal." Ana lifted the fringe of her red hair, revealing the trailing pattern of lightning that trailed from her forehead down across the edge of her face. The fractal patterns burned into her flesh by the might of the killing curse. "He marked me. Fate has chosen me to match him. I have a piece of his soul inside my own, I have his power, his magics in my veins. I am the same as him, and I'm glad I am."

Hermione looked shocked. "How! How can you be happy to be like him?"

"Because it makes me strong. When I spoke with Dumbledore, he said that those like he and I, those who had one foot in the darkness and one foot in the light, who walked the path between good and evil, were needed because we are the sword and shield of the innocent. We are the monsters needed to fight the greater evils. I will do anything to protect those I care about, and I'm glad that I'm not chained by the softer morals of the light. I can do what needs to be done for the greater good, and I will. " Ana had spent most of the day deep in thought to reach that decision. She was unfettered, the dark cruel parts of her would let her do she had to do, without her loosing sleep about it.

"It's just not right. You shouldn't have to worry about fights to the death or dark magic. We are just kids damnit! It's not fair!"

"The world isn't fair. Better me than Neville." Ana snorted at the thought of the gentle herbology student being a warrior.

Hermione gave a little laugh. "You won't be alone though. We will fight beside you."

"I don't want to scare you away, and I don't want you to be hurt. You don't understand him the way I do. He's ruthless. He's smart, and he won't stop till everything that can threaten his immortality is gone, or till he is. I will have to kill him, and any of his followers that get in my way. I won't be throwing disarming charms around, Im going to use every single piece of magic that could give me an advantage, no matter how dark, no matter what." Ana could tell her voice had a pleading edge to it. She still wasn't going to tell Hermione about the diary, but she had to know how far Ana was willing to go.

"You won't scare us away. No matter how dark you go. No matter what you have to do." Hermione grinned at her. "I mean, if I got scared away, who would research eldritch magics for you to use? The others won't abandon you either."

Ana smiled, feeling like a great weight had suddenly been lifted from her chest. She didn't say it out loud, but her eyes were screaming her thanks for her.

"Now that you are done being silly, I copied my notes for you and got all of your homework. I am already done and thus going to go sleep. I expect it all done by the morning. Consider it your punishment for scaring me" Hermione pulled a thick ream of parchment from her knapsack and handed it to Ana.

"Yes miss bossy." Ana laughed grabbing the notes. "See you in the morning."

It didn't take Anastasia long to finish the day's homework. Hermione's notes were better than class in many cases. That and the fact that as usual, Ana simply copied a random page from her history book for her essay for the class. Binns couldn't even pick up a paper, let alone mark one, she just had to be seen turning in a paper with writing on it.

With her studies completed, she sat in silence for a few minutes staring into the dull orange glow of the dying embers in the fireplace. She waited for exhaustion to come, for her eyes to grow heavy, and sleep to come for her. She was disappointed.

It hadn't always been like that. She used to grow tired, to feel hunger and thirst. She used to get sore when she ran, and have her body fail if she pushed it too hard. Then last year she was bitten by the basilisk as she fought her way through the defenses of the chamber of secrets. Instead of simply purging the incredibly potent venom from her body, her protection had instead allowed it to exist, allowed it to course through her veins. As a result, her regeneration no longer only kicked in when she was on the brink of death, because with the toxin in her blood she was always dying.

Ana wasn't sure just why her protection, why fate had allowed this. Dumbledore had his theories of course, as he always did.

He thought that her protection worked somehow much like goblin made steel. He had compared her to the sword of Godric Gryffindor that she had used to battle the beast. The sword would never rust, now loose it edge it would only take in that which made it stronger. That was why the blade now was impregnated with basilisk venom. It coursed through the steel just like it did through her blood.

Ana didn't quite understand how having diluted basilisk venom for blood made her stronger, aside from the constantly dying leading to constant regeneration bit. Not that she was going to complain about the side effect. After a few days, her body had learned to completely block out the severe agony, and by now, she couldn't even tell the venom was still there. Now, because of the regeneration, normal human things that you wouldn't think to count as 'damage' were erased. She never got tired. She wasn't even capable of sleep. She didn't hunger, she only ate because of habit and because she enjoyed it. No amount of physical exertion would exhaust her.

Hermione had compared her to a robot. She just ran, with no resources or down time required.

Anastasia didn't appreciate the comparison. Even machines got to be turned off sometimes. Not sleeping, was unsurprisingly, quite taxing on the human psyche. The urge to give in to blessed unconsciousness, and let her mind just stop and rest for a while was always present in the back of her mind. With her entire nervous system regenerating every five to ten seconds, she would be jolted back to the world of the waking far too quickly to slumber.

"Bored now." She spoke to the air. "What to do. What to do." She supposed she could explore the castle...again. However with Dementors on the prowl just outside the castle walls, she doubted the staff would be as lax about her nocturnal excursions as they had been at the end of last year. They had reached a kind of accord about curfew, similar to their accord regarding the forbidden forest that as she couldn't actually be killed, any limitations on her freedom because of safety concerns were more...guidelines than rules. Her invisibility cloak could help, but she didn't want to strain the uneasy allowance of her rule breaking.

Perhaps she could...

She pulled out a small weatherworn journal, and a muggle fountain pen out of her pocket. Talking with Tom here, under the watchful gaze of Dumbledore was a risk to be sure, but she needed something to do.

'Hello Riddle' she wrote, her messy handwriting marring the beautifully blank paper before it vanished, absorbed by the page.

'Ah! Hello Anastasia. I was wondering when you were going to talk to me again. It's been a while.' Tom's handwriting was far neater than her own, small, spiky, and delicate.

'It's only been less than seventy two hours since we last spoke. Not exactly an eternity.' She grinned at the hint of desperation in his text. He'd become rather reliant on her over the summer.

'Seventy Two hours of being trapped in this damn book with no contact with the outside world. This place is hell.'

'You are the idiot who stuck part of your soul in a book, and then was stupid enough to make it sentient.' When she thought about it, Voldemort really had been quite bad at making Horcruxs. If she ever made one, it would be a totally unremarkable grain of sand, that would then be thrown into the ocean from a helicopter. Then not even she would know where it ended up.

'I' the letter appeared and then faded back into the page. 'I was sixteen! You can't really. Blame me for being an idiot then. Besides, all the cool fantasy novels had sentient soul jars.' Ana was significantly amused by Tom's obsession with Muggle fantasy novels. She guessed that when you grew up with only fictional characters for friends, it could warp you thought a bit.

'Can I come out now?' Tom's normally meticulous script was rushed and cramped with excitement.

'Yes' Ana wrote. Ever since he had stolen some of Ginny's life force Tom had been able to materialize as something in between a ghost and a real person. Able to affect the world in small ways, but not quite there, not quite solid.

He appeared, solidifying out of thin air in a armchair next to the fire. His sharp aristocratic features were fixed in his perpetual smirk as he stretched out, throwing his legs off one arm rest, and his head off the other. "Ah, I've so missed this. I think I might be becoming claustrophobic."

Ana couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the young Dark Lord stretched out across an overstuffed armchair like a too large puppy, his green edged robes and tie clashing horribly with the soft burgundy and gold of the Gryffindor common room.

"I must say, I was a fool for going to Slytherin. This common room is so much superior. Ours is all stone and damp, and hard uncomfortable chairs. It's just miserable. No surprise we tend to go evil. Hard backed chairs lead to the dark side." The young dark wizard grinned at her.

"You aren't fooling me with the 'innocent little Tom' act. Remember, I know how Horcruxs are made." She tried to keep a smile off her face, it was hard to remember that Tom, the charismatic young student who seemed to love life, and find joy in the simplest things was also Tom the cold hearted murderer.

"Oh come on!" Tom threw his hands back in exaggerated exasperation. "I killed one person! It's not like I was already the genocidal idiot I apparently became. Besides, it was Myrtle. I was practically doing the world a favor."

"She became a ghost who will haunt Hogwarts girl's bathrooms for all eternity." Ana glared at him. The flippant sociopathy he displayed was unnerving. "No girl at Hogwarts will ever think of you as anything other than a monster because of that."

Tom shrugged. "Mistakes were made." He then grinned impishly, his face lighting up. "Would you forgive me if I taught you how to exorcise a ghost?"

"Would it work on Binns?" Ana hated few things more than the useless ghost professor.

Tom chucked darkly. "Do I do things in half measures? Of course it will work on that idiot."

"If you were made of flesh and blood I might have had to kiss you." Ana imagined Binns horrified face as he was banished far far away from a classroom.

"Ugh, please no! I'm not into kissing little girls." Tom made a strained face.

Ana refrained from throwing a few choice hexes knowing that they would only pass straight through Tom and ruin a large chunk of the common room. "I am not a little girl." She said through gritted teeth.

"You are pretty little to me." Tom grinned, comforted by his invulnerability to her attacks.

She decided to wisely ignore his insults.

"I need a body. A real one. This half life is awful." Tom's facade cracked.

Ana snorted. "So you can try an murder me? Or cleanse the school of 'Mudbloods' again? Nice try Voldie Jr. Not gonna happen."

"No! I'll do anything! I'll swear all the unbreakable vows you want! I'll worship the ground that Albus freaking Dumbledore walks on if that's what it takes. You want me to never cast another dark spell again? I'll do it. You want me to lead a crusade versus my older self, I'm your man. I. Just. Need. Out. I'm going to go mad Anastasia!" He had abandoned his relaxed position and sprung out of his seat. His eyes were wide and held a wild gleam.

Anastasia, whatever her flaws, was not overly cruel. She was also not one to ignore a strategic resource. Using Voldemort to fight Voldemort was a significant boon to her cause, and, a little voice whispered in her mind. If we can destroy the rest of the dark lord and keep this part alive, we keep our immortality.

Few things could sway Anastasia's mind as quickly as the promise of being harder to kill. "Well I'm not exactly going to let you take someone down to the chamber and kill them, so how would we do this?"

Tom stopped his frantic pacing. Which was good. If he was solid Ana suspected there would be a thin spot in the plush Persian rug. "You will help me?"

"Oh don't worry. You will be swearing a good two dozen or so vows, and I'll make sure to keep a few good contingencies on murdering the hell out of you if you get out of check, but yeah I'll help."

Very few people could claim to have been able to reduce the Dark Lord to tears. Ana was quite sure that she might be the only one on the list. Tom blubbered for a few seconds. Then spoke quietly. "Thank you. Thank you Anastasia Potter."

"So again, how are we going to do this thing?" Ana looked straight into Tom's eyes.

"Lucius Malfoy is the Deatheater who had my journal right? The one who decided to use my soul as a weapon, yes?" Ana nodded. Tom grinned fiercely. "What if we pay him in kind. His life for his crimes, against you, and against me. Sound good?"

"How do we get it to him?" Ana's brow furrowed.

"His son. We turn his own scion against him, get him to do our work for us. It strengthens us by giving us a minion, getting me my body back and removes one of Voldemort's minions from the board. A very high value plot."

Ana's mind raced. "Alright."

"Alright?" Tom said.

"Alright. Let's do this thing."

Tom grinned fiercely.

…

A/N: Anastasia starts to come to terms with her dark side, and begins the slow process of pulling her friends from the light into the boundary of shadow between light and dark, Tom riddle the magnificent bastard appears, and manipulation a fall into place.

I'm actually quite happy with how this chapter turned out. Please review with thoughts, concerns, criticisms, and ideas.

-AZ


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning an exceedingly bushy haired and tired looking Hermione made her way downstairs to join Anastasia. Ana had snuck her way up to shower and change earlier in the morning, and so was sitting, composed and unblemished in one of the velvet armchairs that littered the overly warm room.

"I hate you so very very much." Hermione glared daggers at her friend. Ana merely began to laugh.

"We go over this every morning. You hate me, you hate Lavender because her hair is manageable, you hate Luna for being 'so damn chipper' and then you have coffee and turn into not-evil-Hermione. So lets go get some caffeine."

Once they had made it downstairs, and Hermione had downed a mug of caffeine in drinkable form, Ana began to notice the whispers and looks she was getting from those students who had heard of the previous day's defense lesson. The Hogwarts rumor mill being what it was, that meant the entire school.

Ron noticed Ana's discomfort, and after swallowing his current mouthful of bacon so as not to incur the girls wrath he spoke. "You know, if they really think you are going to go the route of old Voldie, you'd think they wouldn't try and antagonize you." He made no effort to speak quietly.

Neville caught on quickly. "Yeah I mean, if a Dark Lord in training was to be revealed as such, which would of course have to be a very stupid move on said Dark Lord's part, wouldn't they then use it to see who was a potential ally?"

Anna grinned at her friends support. "If I was a Dark Lady in training, I wouldn't have gone before a boggart willingly. However, if I was a Dark Lady, and an idiot-"

"So Voldemort basically?" Hermione quipped, sending several near-by eavesdropping students into shock.

Ana looked pensive for a second. "Basically. So if I was an idiot Dark Lady, I suppose my next step after being reveal as a Dark Lady, would be to silence any who opposed me."

"I suspect Voldemort would have AK'd anyone who suspected his status when he was a school boy. He's awfully fond of the Unforgivables isn't he?" Hermione finished the little ploy, and the four students nodded then returned to eating.

If luck was with them, the odd logic of wizarding students would either lead to a good number declaring Ana innocent as she hadn't gone on a mass killing spree yet, or being too scared not to declare her innocent, for risk of being included in the, in their minds, eventual mass killing spree. They had pulled a similar ploy last year, where Ana had written a list of all the people she would have used the monster to petrify if she had, in fact been the Heir. When Draco Malfoy wasn't immediately petrified, most of the outright verbal abuse had moved to wary glares.

"Today is double potions first thing." Ron groaned at Hermione's announcement.

"Say it isn't so 'mione" say it isn't so."

Hermione grimmaced. "Unless you want me to lie to you?"

"Greasy bat in the morning. Lovely." Neville grimaced.

"He isn't _that_ bad." Ana laughed at her friend's antics. She actually rather enjoyed potions. Snape and her had an uneasy truce, where he wouldn't insult her, or attack her in class with his usual tongue lashing, and in return, she wouldn't intentionally detonate her cauldron every lesson.

"You only say that because you can survive if your cauldron turns to molten pewter. I can't!" Neville groaned. "I just know thats how I'm going to die, 'Neville Longbottom, Melted by his own cauldron' Snape would give a mocking speech at the funeral. It would be awful."

Ana laughed. "While that would be amusing, I'm rather fond of you, so no dying or ill have to go rip open the fabric of reality or something to save you, and that would be annoying."

"Glad you think so highly of us." Hermione quipped.

Ana was glad that the world had faded to a state of semi-normallacy. As normal as things could really get with her.

Potions class was, as always unremarkable at best. Ana brewed a competent potion, Snape avoided her, praised Draco, and heckled Neville. Hermione brewed a perfect potion, and was awarded no praise for it, Ron managed to avoid screwing up too badly. The rest of the students looked on in either sheer terror, or blatant hatred. Essentially the normal routine. The day passed quickly.

The next day however held Defense, and that made Ana very very nervous. She had after all ran out on her last DADA class, immediately after casting a borderline to dark spell, and un-dubiously ruining the day's worth of lesson plans. With great trepidation she made her way up to the classroom. This time Professor Lupin was already present, and the door was wide open. The classroom was very very different from what Ana had expected. The desks were clustered around the outside of the room, all pointing towards the center. Instead of the rows of garlic and crosses that had been strewn across the walls and ceiling in Quirrlemort's time, or the blatant self worship of the fraud Lockhart's time, the room was sparse. Almost spartan in design. The only embellishments Ana could see was the raised center of the room, very similar to a duelist's platform, only far wider, as if made to accommodate multiple combatants, that, and the incredibly intricate ward scheme that ran the boundary between the desks, and the central stage.

"Ah, Anastasia. I am glad you arrived early. Come in and pick a seat." Lupin gave an easy smile, though the deep scars that lined his face shaped it into a half grimace.

Ana nodded mutely and quickly took a seat at the front of the desk line, on the side of the platform closest to the door.

Lupin crossed the platform and took a seat across from her. "It will be a few minutes before the rest of the class arrives, and for the safety of the rest of the students I have a few questions I have to ask you. Is that alright?"

Ana nodded.

"The spell you used against the Boggart, was that deliberate or accidental magic?"

Ana cleared her throat. "Deliberate. I came across the spell during my research on ways to cause harm to Dementors, and the book I was reading noted the spell as the most efficient way to deal with a Boggart."

Lupin nodded, and then sighed heavily. "Most efficient? Yes, I suppose you could say that. I am very glad to hear that wasn't a piece of accidental magic. If it had been, I don't think I could have let you preform any practical magic in this room, it would have been too dangerous for the other students." He met Ana's eyes. "I do have to ask you to only use spells that you have learned in this class when doing a practical. The result of some of the darker spells from the Hogwarts library being used upon a student would be quite…dire."

Ana nodded again. "I understand sir."

"Good, good. I think some of your classmates will be here any second." Ana noticed the professor's ears twitch slightly as he spoke, and sure enough, moments later Hermione, Ron and Neville rounded the corner.

Lupin rose from his seat and returned to the center of the room. "Please find a seat."

Hermione took the seat he had just vacated and made to pull out her textbook.

"There will be no need for that Miss Granger. All reading will be done outside of class. I am hardly going to wast your time reviewing the book in our preciously limited time together. All you will need is a quill, some parchment and of course your wand." The professor gave a warm smile.

"Bloody hell. We have to read the book out of class? That will be a pain." Ron groaned very quietly from behind Ana.

"I think it means most of our lessons will be practicals." Hermione whispered equally quietly.

Anastasia took the time to really observe the Professor for the first time. Something about him made her uneasy, something tugged at her instincts and frayed her nerves. The way he held himself perhaps, with his back straight, and head up, eyes flicking too and fro as if constantly looking for a threat. Maybe it was the deep, jagged scars that crisscrossed every visible inch of skin. Perhaps it was the was he moved, fluid, determined. Much like a predator stalking his prey. She shivered unconsciously. Something in herself recognizing a more dangerous entity.

He had fought in the last war. She knew that. Maybe that was it, his years of fighting and killing dark wizards manifesting in a intimidating aura.

More students began to file into the class, and Lupin's speech on books being repeated, and met with both excitement and groans, and students realized the various ramifications of the speech. Soon the entire class was present.

"Welcome to your first year of proper Defense Against the Dark Arts. From what I've heard from other classes, your last two teachers were a stuttering fool who may have been possessed by a dark wizard, and a blatant fraud. I can tell I have my work cut out for me." Lupin's gaze swept the classroom. "Can anyone tell me what the ministry recommends you learn in year three?"

Hermione raised her hand.

"Yes Miss granger?"

"The ministry recommends we be taught the official and proven methods to deal with various minor dark creatures and-" Hermione said, appearing to wind up for a long textbook answer.

"Thats quite enough Miss Granger. Very good. Five points to Gryffindor. Yes the ministry wants me to teach you how to deal with the various varmints and pests that fill the magical world. I say thats useless. There are exactly five dark creatures I am going to cover this year. Dementors, Lethifolds, Bogarts, Werewolves, and Inferi. Can anyone tell me why these five?"

Anastasia raised her hand. Lupin nodded at her. "Because while most dark creatures have specialized spells to deal with them, a simple combat spell such as a stunning spell, or a cutting hex will eliminate the threat easily. The five listed however require special methods to destroy or even drive back. Dementors require the patronus, Lethifolds can be driven back or destroyed by repeat use of a Patronus, the Avarda Kedarva, or Fiendfyre." She paused for a second. "Actually that last two can apply to nearly anything. Bogarts require either the riddikulus charm, occulmency, or cursed flame, werewolves can heal any wounds not caused by another werewolf, by silver, or by flame. Inferi can only be destroyed by fire."

"That is correct Miss Potter, very good. Really when faced with any dark entity, wether a dark wizard, or dark creature the only specialized tools you need are the Patronus charm, and a decent fire creating charm. The standard duelist's toolbox should suffice everywhere else. What you do need however, is instinct. When fighting anything dark, you need to not freeze up, you need to be able to handle stress, and handle combat. That is what I will be teaching you this year." He waved his wand, and cloth bundles appeared on each student's desk.

"These are dualist uniforms. They are made from magically resistant materials, and charmed to both allow a full range of motion, as well as to grant additional protection to the wearer. Mondays and Wednesdays will be practical lessons, while Fridays will be lessons in theory. On practical days I expect you to be dressed and ready in your gear. If you are not you will be counted absent for the day."

Anastasia felt a touch of excitement course through her body, her blood singing at the prospect of a good fight.

"Today we will be preforming skill assessments in basic dueling." Two by two the students made their way up to the stage and fought. Most of the duels were quick, pitiful affairs where a few spells were flung, and a lucky shot disarmed the loser. Each fight made Anastasia more and more eager, the promise of adrenaline, and combat flowing through her body.

Finally "Potter versus Patil" was called.

Ana eagerly made her way to the center shedding her robe as it would only hamper her movements.

"Wait! I can't fight _her!_ " Pavarti cried out. Her voice quavering in fear.

Lupin sighed. "Why not Miss Patil?"

Pavarti pointed at Ana, who was trying very hard not to laugh at the trembling girl. "Shes a dark witch! She'll kill me!"

Lupin sighed. "I assure you that Miss Potter is not a 'Dark Witch' and even if she was, I could stop her before she could cause any significant harm."

Looking un-reassured, Pavarti took up her place opposite Anastasia.

"Begin!" Lupin cried, moving quickly to get out from between the two girls. Pavarti moved first, hurling a weak disarming charm that Anastasia had no difficulty batting away with a flick of her wand. Memories flowed into Ana's mind. Impressions from her scar, and clearer memories shown to her by the diary. Memories of the dance like rhythms of combat, of the paced footwork, and the thrill of letting magic flow freely with the intent to hurt, to maim, to rend. The world began to move slower, and the blood began to sound very loud in Ana's ears as the adrenaline took over.

She viciously flicked her wand forward, an arc of crackling red energy, essentially just a modified stupefy, ripped through the air, leaving a rippling wake of distorted air. Pavarti was forced to dodge out of the way before firing a stunner of her own. Ana sent her next spell, a quick standard stupefy to intercept Pavarti's before firing off three arc-stunners in quick succession all while advancing forward.

Pavarti gave a panicked squeak before diving out of the way, and firing off a barrage of weak hexes, mostly stinging hexes.

Anastasia for her part simply sidestepped them. The song of combat, of blood was singing through her and the world had narrowed with pinpoint focus to encompass nothing but the frightened girl fleeing from her. Ana raised her wand and brought it down upon the girl, an over-powered stinging hex blasting through the feeble shield raised against it. The cry of pain brought a small smile to her lips. Standing high above her now beaten opponent, Anastasia gave a quiet cruel laugh before sending a stunner down into the girl.

Time returning to its normal progression, Ana became aware of the fact that the entire duel had lasted mere seconds.

"Very impressive Miss Potter. Now, Thomas versus Zabini"

The remainder of the class passed without incident.

 **A/N: Sorry for the basically filler chapter. I really need someone to bounce plot ideas off of and whatnot, also I've been kinda consumed with ideas for my other story The Serpentqueen.**

 **This chapter basically served to introduce two points, Professor Lupin's class in NOWHERE near canon in terms of content. I could never get the point of second, first, or third year DADA from the books, so I wanted to change it up a bit.**

 **Secondly, Anastasia has some major bloodlust issues. Like really major bloodlust.**

 **She loves the fight for the sake of the fight, and that will play to some of her darker tendencies in the years to come.**

 **Anyway, as I said. I need someone to kinda help with plot ideas, a sounding board if you will. Anyone interested feel free to shoot me a PM.**

 **Please read and review.**

 **-AZ**


End file.
